But as he makes his return to the City of Brotherly Love, Ford is thinking more about Steve Smith than Laettner. The Minutemen face La Salle at 2 p.m. Sunday in their first of two games in Philadelphia.

After gaining some national attention when it started the season 7-0 against a soft nonconference slate, La Salle has crashed back to reality. The Explorers (10-7, 2-4 Atlantic 10) have lost five straight heading into Sunday's game.

The switch to conference play has stunted the La Salle offense. The Explorers have averaged 10 fewer points per game (62.8 vs. 73.1) against A-10 foes than those from outside the conference.

If trends hold, playing UMass is not likely to improve those numbers. The Minutemen average a league-best 54.0 points per game allowed in conference games.

La Salle has struggled despite having Smith, the league's leading scorer and last year's conference co-player of the year.

Smith is averaging 19.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

'He's a dangerous player because he can play inside and out,' Ford said.

The Minutemen have used Virginia transfer Gary Forbes to simulate Smith in practice this week.

Stephane Lasme, Rashaun Freeman and Dante Milligan all will likely see time guarding Smith.

'He's a matchup problem. He can score with both hands,' Freeman said. 'I think the key to beating La Salle is containing him and not letting anybody else go off.'

Explorer guards Jermaine Thomas and Darnell Harris both went off against the Minutemen in the Atlantic 10 Tournament last March. UMass won the regular-season matchup 69-66 in overtime, but even with Smith out most of the second half with an eye injury, La Salle beat the Minutemen 70-64 in overtime in the first round of the A-10 tourney, ending their season.

Coach John Giannini said Harris and Thomas as well as Smith must be successful for the Explorers to turn things around.

'The scouting report on us is pretty obvious. We have some good guards who can shoot the ball and we have Steve inside,' Giannini said. 'If those things aren't working, we're going to struggle.'

VIDEO BOARDS DELAY - The new video boards being added to the Mullins Center scoreboards have been delayed. They won't be installed in time for next weekend's hockey and basketball games, when they were originally expected to debut.

HILADELPHIA - UMass had four players in double-figures but it was not enough as the Minutemen fell to La Salle 68-61 on Sunday afternoon at Tom Gola Arena. La Salle's All-American Steve Smith scored a game-high 24 points and added nine rebounds. James Life topped UMass scorers with 14. Stephane Lasme (13 points and 12 rebounds) and Rashaun Freeman (11 points and 10 rebounds) had double-doubles for the Minutemen.

The loss drops UMass to 9-8 overall and 4-3 in the Atlantic 10. The Minuteman are 1-7 on the road this year and 0-3 in the league. For La Salle, the win breaks a five-game losing streak as it improves to 11-7 overall and 3-4 in the league. The Explorers have won four of the last five meetings between the teams.

Life hit a 3-pointer with 21.6 seconds left to make it 64-60, but La Salle's Jermaine Thomas made all of his four free in the final seconds to clinch the win.

Chris Lowe (12 points) hit a driving lay-up to cut it to 59-56 with 2:22 left. Explorer Thomas (19 points) matched the jumper with 1:47 to make it 61-56.

The Minutemen continued to fight to stay in the game but were hurt at the free throw line making just 3-of-9 from the line over a stretch in the second half and still trailed 59-54 with 4:18 remaining.

Trailing by as many as 13 (50-37), UMass started to slowly mount a comeback aided by four free throws from Lasme cutting it to 50-44 with 13:35 left.

Life opened up hot in the second half nailing a pair of 3-pointers to cut La Salle's lead to 40-34 just 1:53 in the half. La Salle quickly answered as Smith converted four straight lay-ups to give the Explorers an 11-point lead, 48-37.

La Salle's Darnell Harris canned two 3-pointers in a span of 41 seconds to give the Explorers a 33-24 lead - their largest of the first half with 59 seconds left in the half. UMass' Chris Lowe hit a shot for the halftime score of 33-26.

UMass rallied back to within 19-17 on a 3-pointer by Lowe with 6:03 left in the first half, but La Salle scored two quick baskets to build the lead back to 23-17 with 5:08 remaining.

With UMass leading 9-3, La Salle went on a 12-0 run over a 4:30 span as Smith scored six in the run to give the Explorers a 15-9 lead with 10:44 left in the first half.

Lasme came out strong scoring five of UMass' first seven points as the Minutemen took a 9-3 lead with 4:23 into the game.

UMass rematches La Salle at the Mullins Center on Feb. 8. The Minutemen stay in Philadelphia and will take on Temple at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. That game will be shown live on CN8.

Mass had four players in double-figures for the first time since the Duquesne game on Jan. 7 and for the fourth time this season.

* UMass had two players with double-doubles (Stephane Lasme: 13 pts., 12 reb. and Rashaun Freeman 11 pts., 10 reb.) for the first time since the St. Peter's game on Dec. 27, 2005.

* Stephane Lasme scored in double-figures for the first time in five games with 13. It was his eighth game this season with 10 or more and 13th of his career.

* Lasme also grabbed 12 rebounds for his third double-double this season and fifth of his career.

* James Life scored more than 10 for the second game in a row with 14. It was his seventh game this season in double-figures. He made four 3-pointers, all in the second half.

* Rashaun Freeman posted a double-double for the eighth time this year and 27th of his career with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He was into double-figures for the 13th time in 17 games in 2005-06 and 59th time in 74 career games.

* Freeman's 11 points moved him to 27th in career points, passing Mike Williams (1,122). Freeman now has 1,130. Next on the list at a tie for 25th are Lari Ketner (1996-99) and Will Herndon (1989-92) with 1,148.

* Lasme had his fewest blocks in a game this season with just one. As a team, UMass had its fewest blocks with just two, Jeff Viggiano had the other.

* Chris Lowe took a career-high 16 field goal attempts and scored 12 points on 5-of-16 shooting. It was his third game this season in double-figures and second in a four games. Lowe had just two assists, his lowest total since taking over as the primary point guard seven games ago.

* La Salle shot 41.7 from the floor, equaling the best by a UMass opponent in A-10 play, as Duquesne also shot 41.7 percent in the A-10 opener on Jan. 7. UMass came into the game with the best field goal percentage defense in the league at 35.9.

* La Salle also shot 41.2 from the 3-point arc. UMass came into the game tops in the A-10 in 3-point field goal defense, giving up just 22.3 percent per game.

* Brandon Thomas wore No. 0 in the game, as UMass wore a different set a uniforms from which a his No. 2 jersey was unavailable. James Life wore his old No. 5 as his No. 34 was not available in this set as well.

* UMass is 1-7 in road games this season and 2-8 away from the Mullins Center. Conversely, UMass is 7-0 at home, tying the second-longest home win streak in school history.

HILADELPHIA -- There was no espionage going on at Tom Gola Arena yesterday. The home team pretty much told the University of Massachusetts, ''Here it is, try to beat it."

As has been the case on the road this season, UMass tried, and failed.

La Salle shut down the players it needed to and snapped a five-game losing streak by taking a 68-61 victory over the Minutemen. With a chance to grab a share of second place in the Atlantic 10, UMass (9-8, 4-3) slipped into a four-way tie for fifth while dropping to 1-7 on the road.

''I think at this point of the season [the road woes] are just in our mind," said forward Stephane Lasme, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds. ''We need to be more focused in doing the little things and playing harder."

Lasme was one of the few bright spots for UMass, which shot 38.9 percent, made just 12 of 23 free throws, and committed 14 turnovers. The Explorers (11-7, 3-4) concentrated on center Rashaun Freeman and the wing players by using a number of defenses.

Freeman, who averages 11 shots and 15.1 points, was just 3 for 6 from the field and 5 for 10 from the line for 11 points.

''It wasn't hard at all to see what they were trying to do," said UMass coach Travis Ford. ''They were trying to take away our wings. And they were doubling our post players every time they touched it, and saying Chris Lowe, see if you can beat us."

Lowe, a freshman point guard who entered the game shooting 38 percent and averaging 6 points, was just 5 for 16 (1 for 7 from 3-point range) for 12 points. He had not taken more than eight shots in a game this season.

''That's definitely not what we want," Ford said. ''They were open shots. They left him open. They played a triangle-and-two that leaves that spot open if you set a screen up top. That's the first time I'd seen that this year."

''We really did change it up a lot," La Salle coach John Giannini said. ''We used four different defenses during the course of the game. A lot of that is out of respect for Freeman."

Meanwhile, Steven Smith had 24 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists to carry La Salle. Jermaine Thomas added 19 points and Darnell Harris had 14, and the two seemed to hit a clutch 3-pointer whenever it was needed.

UMass rolled to a 9-3 lead before a 12-0 run gave the Explorers an advantage they would not relinquish. La Salle's lead got as large as 50-37, before UMass cut it to 59-56 and 64-60 with 21.8 seconds left. But Thomas and Smith sandwiched two free throws apiece around a missed 3-pointer by James Life (14 points).

Ford became so desperate for offense he put Jeff Viggiano at point guard ''to have someone in there who was used to scoring." But the forward was 0 for 6 from the field.

''We've got a long way to go offensively," Ford said.

Lowe did not duck his responsibility for the loss, and knows the La Salle strategy could be copied by other teams.

''It was a real big shocker," Lowe said of the triangle-and-two. ''I have to go into the gym and work on my jump shots so I can make some and open up our offense."

Explorers get one to grow onLa Salle ended a five-game skid with a solid effort against UMassBy Ray Parrillo, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/30/2006

ell into his second year as La Salle's coach, John Giannini has likened any sign of his team's progress to a growth spurt.

But since a Jan. 7 win at Richmond, one that raised the Explorers' record to 10-2 and gave them a 2-0 start in the Atlantic Ten Conference season, Giannini had seen no reason to pull out the measuring stick.

The only thing growing about La Salle basketball was a losing streak that reached five games.

That was until yesterday, when the Explorers (11-7, 3-4), playing with a sense of desperation, nailed down their most significant win of the season - a 68-61 victory over Massachusetts (9-8, 4-3) in an A-10 game at Tom Gola Arena.

The win gave La Salle 11 victories for the first time since it won 12 in 2002-03, and it came against a UMass team some regard as a conference contender, though the Minutemen are 1-7 on the road.

"I was never worried about our motivation," Giannini said after senior Steven Smith, playing on a gimpy right ankle, scored 24 points, pulled down 9 rebounds, handed out 4 assists and had only 1 turnover, more than three below his average. "But I was worried about us learning to get better. And that's just a mentality. That's not being satisfied where you are."

The Explorers were solid in just about every phase of the game. The 6-foot-7 Smith, playing before another group of NBA scouts, got La Salle off to good starts in each half. Senior guard Jermaine Thomas had 19 points, 5 assists and 4 steals. He also hit four critical free throws in the final minute and used his experience to settle the team when it showed signs of cracking against UMass' halfcourt zone trap. Guard Darnell Harris had 14 points and hit four three-pointers.

On defense, La Salle threw four different looks at the Minutemen, including a triangle-and-two that UMass coach Travis Ford acknowledged he did not anticipate. The result was a long day for 6-9 Rashaun Freeman and 6-6 Jeff Viggiano, UMass' two leading scorers.

Freeman, who was averaging 15.1 points, squeezed off only six shots for 11 points. Just about every time Freeman touched the ball, a La Salle guard, usually Tabby Cunningham, dropped down to double-team him. Viggiano, who averaged 15.3 points in his previous four games, shot 0 for 6 and made one free throw.

"Give La Salle credit. They were hungry for this win," Ford said. "You saw a team that needed this game, and they played like it. And I was very impressed with Steven Smith after seeing him for the first time. He proved why he's the best in the league."

Smith opened La Salle's scoring with a three-pointer, but limped to the bench after he was knocked down and sat out a couple of minutes while adjusting an ankle support. He came back and scored six points during a 12-0 run that gave La Salle an early lead it never relinquished.

"Steve had been playing hurt with that ankle, but he doesn't want to stay out," Giannini said. "And then he hurt it a little more at the start of the game, and he just had a really gutsy performance."

The Minutemen, down by 50-37 at one point, gouged the La Salle lead to 59-56 before Thomas hit a key jumper with 1 minute, 51 seconds to go. He and Smith combined to make six straight free throws at the end.

"Going through the losing streak, everything was pretty much out in the open," Smith said. "Coach addressed things after every loss. Everybody knows why we were losing games. You can't talk about it over and over. We had to go out and stop talking and try to play as perfect a game as we possibly could. I think we responded."

he eyes of the La Salle basketball team, filled with such optimism during a 10-2 start, lately had taken more frustrating rolls than a bad-luck craps shooter.

Five straight losses will do that to a team and its coaches.

Seniors Jermaine Thomas and Steven Smith have been through a lot of tough times in their 4 years at 20th and Olney. While bad, a five-game losing streak is not a character-breaker. Yesterday, they carried the Explorers to a 68-61, Atlantic 10 victory over Massachusetts in front of a hearty Tom Gola Arena crowd of 3,132.

The win improved La Salle to 11-7, 3-4 in the conference. UMass, which had won four of six, fell to 9-8, 4-3.

"Steve and I talked a lot earlier this week," said Thomas, who had 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals. "We've been around each other a lot and we decided we're the seniors, so we've got to turn this thing around. We knew we had to lead by example and we took the losing streak personally."

The worth of the two players was in plain sight yesterday. After giving the Explorers a 3-2 lead on a trey from the right wing, Smith fell to the floor, tweaking an already-sore right ankle. He sat for the next 3 minutes while the ankle was retaped.

Following Smith's return, the Explorers scored 12 straight points (six by Smith, five by Thom-as) and never trailed again.

"Losing five games in a row, things were pretty much out in the open, nothing needed to be said that coach [John Giannini] hadn't already addressed after the losses," said Smith (24 points, nine rebounds and four assists). "We just had to go out and respond, we had to go out and stop talking and go out and try to play the perfect game. You can't play the perfect game, obviously, but you can try to play a game as perfect as you can."

Massachusetts doesn't allow teams to come anywhere close to playing perfectly. Don't forget, this is the team that held Temple to 34 points on Jan. 21. Before yesterday, it was holding A-10 opponents to only 54 points a game. La Salle solved that problem. The 68 points it scored were the most given up by UMass in seven games.

But even more impressive was La Salle's defense, which concentrated on shutting down the inside scoring of Rashaun Freeman and Stephane Lasme, and keyed on getting a hand on sniper Jeff Viggiano.

Constant double-teams limited Freeman (11) and Lasme (13) to 24 points, while Viggiano missed all six field goal attempts and had just one point.

Still, when UMass employed a 1-3-1 halfcourt trapping defense midway through the second half, it quickly chopped a 10-point deficit to 59-56 with 2 minutes, 26 seconds left on a driving 5-footer by Lowe.

But Thomas hit a 10-footer with 1:51 left, and he and Smith finished the scoring from the foul line as La Salle surpassed its win total of each of the last two seasons.

The Explorers also got a boost from guard Darnell Harris, who made four of seven three-point attempts and contributed 14 points.

"The frustration of the losing streak is a cancerous type of thing," said Thomas, sporting an ice bag on his right hip after a nasty fall late in the game. "If you see one person getting real upset, everyone else kind of does it. Steve and I had to make sure that everyone stayed focused and concentrated on playing La Salle basketball."

Which, according to Giannini, shouldn't have been too hard.

"Steve just had a really gutsy performance,'' he said. "Darnell and Jermaine played very well, and we need that balance. This team has been through far worse than five losses. These guys are going to be successes in life because they've just handled everything that's come their way."

Maybe not as well as the coach thinks, according to Thomas.

"I hate losing one in a row, forget about five," he said. "That's just me, I hate to lose."

He and his fellow senior made sure it didn't happen a sixth straight time.

HILADELPHIA - The desperate charge was too late and too weak for the University of Massachusetts men's basketball team Sunday and the road woes continued for the Minutemen in a 68-61 loss to La Salle at Tom Gola Arena.

After trailing by as many 13 in the second half, UMass slashed the deficit to three at 59-56 with two minutes, 25 seconds left, but the Minutemen (9-8, 4-3 Atlantic 10) couldn't get over the hump and fell to 2-8 outside the Mullins Center this season.

Before the game, UMass talked about slowing last season's Atlantic 10 player of the year Steven Smith and stopping the Explorer guards. The Minutemen failed at both.

Smith was dominant with 24 points and nine rebounds. Jermaine Thomas had 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals, while his backcourt mate Darnell Harris scored 14.

'Steve Smith proved why he's the best player in the Atlantic 10,' UMass coach Travis Ford said. 'He hurt us in a lot more ways than just scoring. We said before the game that if their top three scorers got to their averages or more, they're tough to beat.'

James Life led the Minutemen with 14 points. Stephane Lasme broke a statistical slump with 13 points and 12 rebounds, but had a season-low one blocked shot. Rashaun Freeman added 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Chris Lowe had 12 points on 5-for-16 shooting, mostly because he was forced to shoot an uncharacteristically high number of jump shots. La Salle's triangle-and-two defense contained Lasme and Freeman and limited the open perimeter shots for the UMass wings.

'When we have our point guard shoot 16 shots, that's definitely not what we want,' Ford said. 'They left him open. It wasn't hard to figure out what they were trying to take away our wings and double our post players every time they touched it and said to Chris Lowe 'See if you can beat us.'

Lowe said UMass was surprised by the gimmick defense.

'It was a real big shocker,' Lowe said after the game. 'I have to go in the gym and work on my jump shot, so I can make some shots and open things up for the offense.'

Ford said his team struggled to adjust on the fly against the triangle and two.

'Our guys aren't the best at getting things out of a time-out and going in and executing it,' Ford said. 'We need to get better at that.'

Lowe said he expects to see similar defenses the rest of the season.

'Coach Ford is a smart coach,' Lowe said. 'He'll break it down and we'll adjust as a team.'

The Minutemen looked sharp early. Five points by Lasme and four by Freeman put them ahead 9-3 with 4:20 played. But La Salle scored the next 12 points, putting UMass on its heels the rest of the way.

Smith came out of the game after just a minute with an apparent aggravation of an earlier ankle injury. But he came back and scored six points during the 12-0 run and 13 in the first half. La Salle stretched its edge to 33-24 with a minute left until intermission before Lowe scored to cut the lead to 33-26 at halftime.

'We didn't come ready to play,' Lasme said. 'We were very sloppy at the beginning.'

While the Minutemen have struggled in the first half before, they've usually come back to life in the second. It didn't happen Sunday.

La Salle stretched its lead to double figures just over three minutes after the break. Ford tried big and small lineups to get the Minutemen going and even used Jeff Viggiano as a point guard for a brief time, but no combination could sustain any stretches of good play.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.

HILADELPHIA - Barring a schedule change, University of Massachusetts coach Travis Ford planned to see his old coach in action tonight. Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who played at UMass and coached Ford at Kentucky in the early 1990s, is in Philadelphia to face Villanova at 7 tonight.

Pitino, who has not seen the Minutemen in action much this season, predicted in an interview at his hotel Sunday that Ford's team would improve quickly.

''He knows the game through the eyes of a player. He was always a hard worker and a fiery, fiery basketball player. He's very bright in terms of evaluating talent which is very important in terms of turning it around,'' Pitino said. ''With the guys he has sitting out this year and the guys he has coming back next year, UMass will turn it around in a hurry.''

Pitino's Cardinals are in need of a turnaround themselves. They are 2-5 in Big East play and have lost four of five including a 65-56 loss to Rutgers Saturday. He pointed to some recruiting misses as part of the problem.

''We made some mistakes with guys going pro out of high school,'' said Pitino in reference to Sebastian Telfair and Donta Smith, who had both committed to Louisville, but instead went to the NBA. ''Evaluating the situation is such a key.''

Pitino taped a segment with UMass broadcaster Bob Behler that will air on Ford's radio show at 7 tonight on WRNX (100.9 FM). The show will be broadcast from Philadelphia.

ANOTHER RECRUIT COMING - Just days after Joey Rodriguez and Chris Donald told the UMass coaching staff they plan to become Minutemen, Ricky Harris has decided to join them.

Harris, a 6-foot-2 guard at the Winchendon School, is a Baltimore native. He picked UMass over St. John's, DePaul, George Washington and several midmajors. Hoopscoop.com listed him at No. 27 on its list of post-graduate prep school players.

Ford may still have one scholarship to use if Maurice Maxwell does not return. Maxwell is currently suspended indefinitely for failing to meet athletic department academic standards. The start of spring semester classes Tuesday could resolve the situation.

Rodriguez and Marcus Matthews, a guard from New York who committed to UMass in October, are both high school juniors and won't join the Minutemen until the 2007-08 season.

Donald, who will likely start his career as a walk-on, said he expects to redshirt his first season.

Still, Harris will have plenty of company as new players on the Minutemen next season. Three highly-touted transfers - center Luke Bonner (West Virginia), wings Etienne Brower (Boston University) and Gary Forbes (Virginia) - become eligible, as does point guard Tiki Mayben, who is sitting out this season as an academic nonqualifier.

MILESTONES - Rashaun Freeman's 11 points Sunday gave him 1,130 for his career putting him at No. 27 on the school's all-time scoring list. He passed Mike Williams, who scored 1,122 from 1991 to 1995. Next up are Lari Ketner and Will Herndon, who each scored 1,148 in three seasons at UMass. Rodger Twitchell, who played from 1962 to 1964, is also in range at 1,151.

Stephane Lasme's one blocked shot was a season low, which left him at 199 in his career. His next block will make him only the fourth Minuteman to block 200 career shots.

He needs just five to catch Ketner (204) at No. 3 all time on the UMass career block list.

NEXT UP - The Minutemen face suddenly surging Temple (11-7, 4-3 Atlantic 10) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Liacouras Center. Since losing to UMass 60-34 on Jan. 21, Temple has played well in beating Xavier 81-79 Wednesday before upsetting No. 18 Maryland 91-85 Saturday.

Senior point guard Mardy Collins had averaged 26.5 points and 8.5 assists since the loss to the Minutemen.

FREE-THROW WOES - A year ago, Lasme was one of the Minutemen's most reliable free throw shooters. He made 70.1 percent from the line and went 14-for-14 in one game. But he's struggled from the line lately. After entering the game shooting 6-for-15 in his last five games, he made five of nine Sunday.

Lasme was not alone. UMass made just 12 of 23 free throw throws and missed several down the stretch in the failed comeback attempt resulting in a 68-61 loss to La Salle.

NONUNIFORM UNIFORMS - When the Minutemen got their original set of uniforms before the season started, Brandon Thomas' No. 2 jersey was missing. While UMass waited for Thomas' top to arrive, the rest of the uniforms were washed once and the maroon ran, turning the white numbers and lettering pink. UMass complained and Adidas sent a new set of uniforms made of a slightly different material.

The Minutemen went 2-6 in the second set, so they broke out the slightly pinkish originals for this game. Still without a jersey in that set, Thomas wore No. 0 with no name on the back.

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage including a frequently updated UMass sports blog, go to www.dailyhampshiregazette.com/umsports.